


Fruit Salad- A MTaP fic

by MaxwellJacksWrites



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Anorexia, Character Concern, Chicken Farm, Does literally no one else notice that Antoine is a whole thirty pounds underweight, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fireflies, M/M, Maven just wants to give his boi a fruit salad, Narcoleptic Builder, Portians need help, Wholesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-07-28 17:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20067826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxwellJacksWrites/pseuds/MaxwellJacksWrites
Summary: Maven starts obsessively making fruit salads, Emily and Alice team up to find out why, then things get angsty.





	1. The sneaky farmer

Emily sighed a sigh of relief. She had just finished up feeding her chickens, it was about sundown time, she was ready to put the animals up for the night.  
“Bawk Bawk!”  
Emily turned around to find the reason Sanmao was startled, and found her neighbor, Maven, sprinting across Emily’s wheat fields for the third time that day. Maven was a good friend to her, and even though he had only moved in around three seasons ago, she felt close to him. He was trustworthy and always made sure to check on Emily on the farm every day. But today, he seemed different. Stressed.

Emily watched as the young builder came speeding up to her. He stopped with a halt right in front of her, almost collapsing trying to regain his breath. Emily, very concerned for her builder friend, elected to speak to him first.  
“Maven, are you alright? You’re going to pass out from lack of oxygen if you don’t slow down.”  
Maven continued to pant at the ground, just barely looking up before heaving; “I need...... I need more eggs.”  
Emily scratched her head at her neighbor’s unusual behavior, as the black-haired builder had already picked up eggs twice that day. “Maven, I just sold you almost four dozen eggs an hour ago, whatever do you need more for?”  
Maven’s gaze broke from Emily as he looked to the side for a second, afterwards standing up straight and clearing his throat a little. “Well, uh, I’m making salad sauce.”  
“Who in Portia would be commissioning that much salad sauce??”  
“I’m making fruit salad.”  
“Good lord, Maven, how many are you making?”  
“iM mAkInG fRuIt SaLaD”

Emily prided herself in being a good friend, and her next-door builder was also a good friend to her, therefore Emily felt the need to get to the bottom of Maven’s strange new behavior.  
“Maven, are you having financial problems? If you are, you know Granny Sophie and I could always-“  
The young farmgirl watched her neighbor’s face turn slightly red for a second, before being cut off by the seemingly flustered builder.  
“N- No, it’s not that! It’s just...”  
Maven uncharacteristically found himself at a loss for words. To Emily’s interpretation, Maven was having quite the difficult time explaining his sudden rush to make hundreds of plates of fruit salad.  
“People need to be fed, you know?”  
Emily, not even close to being convinced, came to notice that even this earlier this morning, Maven had been acting strange. Almost every day since he had moved here, Emily has watched her favorite builder leave his workshop at precisely 7:05, and head straight to the commerce guild, most likely to take commissions. She didn’t see Maven do that today, instead she just watched him feed a fish to the town cat and go back home.  
“Maven, you haven’t even taken a commission today! I’m all for taking a day off, but you’ve been going back and forth for hours!”  
Emily gave a concerned look, causing Maven to fiddle with his hands ever so slightly. He doesn’t usually do that.  
“The commerce guild doesn’t post commissions on weekends.” Replied the builder.  
“I’ve seen you go on weekends, though! Maven, whatever’s going on, I can help! I’m your friend, am I not?”  
Maven, quite appreciative for his friend, took a deep breath and calmly provided his explanation.  
“I didn’t go to the guild today because.... I had a pretty scary dream, I’m a little afraid of going in there today.”  
Emily, finally in belief that her friend was telling the truth, was actually quite surprised that someone like Maven even had worries at all.  
“A.... bad dream? Why, Maven, I’m sure you’re all right. If you want, you can hang out with me for the rest of the day. Mind if I ask what this dream was about?”  
The builder smiled softly, happy that his neighbor understood.  
“Thank you, Emily. I’ll tell you about it later.”  
“All right, but that doesn’t explain why you’ve been spending so much on eggs. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the support, but the market’s high today, it’s not the best time to be mass-buying eggs.”  
Maven’s facial expression changed, before he managed to veil his anxiety with a calm smile. He gave Emily an empathetic look, deciding it was better to present his whole case as opposed to hiding it.  
“Well... So, you know the secretary who goes to work at the commerce guild every day?”  
Emily gave a puzzled expression, attempting to figure out what her neighbor was implying.  
“Oh, you mean Antoine? Of course, he’s another good friend of mine. What about him, did he put you up to this?”  
“Oh, no, no he didn’t, it’s only that- He has horrible eating habits, and I’m really worried. Xu told me he’s quite underweight, and the only way I can get him to eat in the mornings is by delivering him salad.”  
Emily, piecing together what Maven just said and figuring out how Maven’s behavior today made sense now, provided more evidence to the builder’s worries.  
“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen him eat when he takes his lunch break with Sonia and I either. I didn’t know that you were also friends with him, that’s cool!”  
Maven’s face went a little pink when Emily said that, in a hurry to correct what his friend had just said.  
“Well, I mean, technically, I’m not. Well, I’d like to, but uhhhhhhhhhh...... The salads are really helping!”  
Emily is once again incredibly confused.  
“Oh? Well, I’m sure that once you tell him you’re concerned for hi- ....wait, Maven?”  
The blonde farmer, ideas gradually clicking in her head, stops talking abruptly when she notices that her best friend is attempting to quietly shuffle away without being noticed.  
The builder stops the second he realizes he wasn’t being as subtle as he thought in his getaway technique.  
“Maven, what’s wrong? Wait a second, Maven, what are you implying?”  
“AbSoLutEly noTHinG, I dOnt See whAt yOu meaN!”  
“hEy WaIt A mInUtE gEt BaCk HeRe-“  
Emily ceases her slight chasing after her builder friend and giggles quietly, seeing as Maven has once again fallen asleep in the middle of her crops, surrounded by fireflies.  
She quietly whispers to herself, gently removing the sword from her friends back and laying down beside him.  
“Hahaha, oh my....”


	2. She who sells the heart knots.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well then.... This is a placeholder.

“Ugh...” Thought Antoine, standing outside of a certain builder’s workshop at 7:50 in the morning. “It’s so hot outside today...”  
Not that Antoine minded, as he was there for a good reason, he simply just hated breaking a sweat. At the very least, he had gotten there rather early in the morning, so the sun wouldn’t be too hot and he wouldn’t be late for work.  
“He’s gotta wake up soon, I never noticed him as a late sleeper....” Antoine quietly mumbled to himself, waiting for builder Maven to leave his workshop. His plan was to catch the young builder on his way out, and invite him to spend some time together, outside of the few minutes the two were together inside the commerce guild. Antoine thought well of the builder, who has always been kind to him since the day Maven moved in. Maven would show up at the commerce guild each morning to take a commission, as his job requires, and often bring Antoine a small gift, usually a random trinket from the builder’s miscellaneous adventures. A few weeks later though, the pink-haired boy had been in a bit of a rush that morning, and asked Maven for a favor. He requested Maven bring him food for that day. Nothing too big, just something quick, like a salad. And every day since then, the builder had taken special care to make sure he brings Antoine food each morning. The secretary was grateful for this, as Maven really didn’t need to do this, and Antoine figured it was time that he talked to him about it. That, and what Emily had said to Antoine when she had approached him the previous night. The farmer girl had told Antoine that Maven was actually quite concerned for the secretary, along with some other speculations that Antoine or Emily had yet to confirm. Emily had also mentioned her plan to speak to Alice about the situation, which is surprising considering Sonia, their mutual friend, was just as likely to know the answer that the pair is looking for.  
Sure enough, the builder’s front door swung open, with Maven stepping outside. He stopped walking as soon as he noticed Antoine there, looking almost shocked. The builder looked around him, checking to see if anyone else was there, but to Maven’s surprise it was only Antoine.  
“Oh... Antoine! Good morning! I... didn’t expect to see you here. How can I help you?”  
The secretary chuckled a bit, crossing his arms in front of himself, in his usual stance.  
“No, silly. I’m asking, shall we hang out tomorrow?”  
Maven looked behind him once again, quietly readjusting the sword on his back.  
“Oh... Of course, what time?”  
“I’ll meet you outside your workshop at 14:00. Is that alright?”  
“Yes! That’s perfect, I’ll see you then.”  
Maven watched with a smile as Antoine walked about ten feet from Maven’s front door, then proceeded to sprint towards the commerce guild. ‘Maybe I’ll go in a bit later today....’ Maven thought.

“You’ve caught his interest, huh?”

Maven jumped just a little, quickly turning his head to find who said that. It was his neighbor, Emily, carrying a small green book.  
“Sorry Maven, I didn’t mean to scare you there. You fell asleep in my field last night, so I took you back home. You seemed to drop this while you were at my place. I figured you’d need it!”  
The builder accepted the item from Emily’s hand, although failing to recognize it.  
“This.... looks like a crafting recipe, but it’s not mine. I’ll check it out though. Thanks Emily.”  
The farmer smiled, her blue eyes shining in the sunlight. “It’s not a problem! Anyways, see you later!”  
Emily watched her neighbor disappear into Peach Plaza, waiting until he was out of sight to finally acknowledge Alice hiding behind a tree.  
“Are you sure neither of them heard you?” Emily asked the florist.  
Alice replied with a smirk on her face, “I was completely hidden. I’ve been getting snooping lessons from Django.”

Emily chuckled a little at Alice’s joke, resting a hand on her hip.  
“Alright then. What’s the report?”

**Author's Note:**

> I originally intended for this to be a oneshot, but a friend gave me ideas to continue it and now I’m excited.


End file.
